Fun family activities & places to be with our kids in Singapore & beyond (plus the occasional mommy rantings!)

5 cool things to see and do at the Faber-Castell Art Festival at Marina Square

The Faber-Castell Art Festival at Marina Square mall in Singapore is more than stationery and art supplies at discounted prices, it also has fun art and crafting activities and workshops that kids will enjoy.

On our way to an indoor playground at Marina Square, we chanced upon the Faber-Castell Art Festival at the mall on the first day of the event. Initially, I had thought the event was mostly a stationery and art supply sale by the renowned brand, but turned out it was more than that.

We ended up enjoying a soft pastel drawing session, an art exhibition, and browsing through new art products we didn't know existed, and even went home with cool new art supplies. Here are five cool things you'll find and enjoy at the Faber-Castell Art Festival till 30 June.

1) Stationery and art supplies at discounted prices

There are lots of stationery and art supplies on sale at the event like colour pencils, markers, gel pens, art bags, drawing blocks, art gift sets, water colours and oil pastels.

Some even had promotions like "buy two get one free"....

and "buy one get one free". Now that's music to my ears.

2) Workshops and other activities

There are several interesting art and crafting workshops running over the ten days of the event like painting with soft pastels, stone painting and acrylic painting. Fees and pre-registration are required for these and some are really popular and already full. Check Faber-Castell's Facebook page for list of workshops and to register for them before heading down.

On site, there are other activities that doesn't cost much like badge-making...

...and you can also get your caricature drawn for a good cause - proceeds are donated to charity.

While we were at the event, there was a soft pastel art demonstration which allowed children to try for free. We didn't even knew this form of art existed [feeling super suaku].

Big E, eight, and Little E, six, loved it so much we had to buy its starter kit, priced at a discount of $28.90 at the fair. This is what it contains.

The girls couldn't wait to start creating with it once we reached home. This is Little E's creation from the kit.

3) Interesting products you may not know existed

Other than the soft pastel art above, it was also nice to discover other interesting products that we've never seen before like Faber-Castell's Colour To Life set, also available at a discount at the event.

After colouring on a set of pictures, you scan the picture with a QR reader on your phone or tablet, then watch them come alive and play games with them on Faber-Castell's app. It's really quite cool. Here's a better explanation of the product if you're interested.

We also saw some really unique colouring and how-to-draw books suitable for kids, these include the 'Let's Draw' books by Sachiko Umoto and Kawaii Doodle Class by Zainab Khan.

4) A beautiful art exhibition

There is also an art exhibition with art pieces for sale. We've now become huge fans of soft pastel art!

5) Singapore landmarks made from connector pen caps

There is also a lovely model of famous Singapore landmark made from Faber-Castell connector pen caps. I didn't know you can draw and make models out of pen caps! You learn something new every day, don't you?